In testing news this week, Viavi and Lumentum, the two companies into which JDSU will split by 3Q of this year, have launched initial websites and logos as part of their progress toward establishing themselves as new companies.
Viavi Solutions is the network visibility-focused company, and the optical components and commercial laser company takes on the name Lumentum. You can check out the preview sites — with significant disclaimers, as the spin-off is not yet completed — for Viavi here and Lumentum here.
– P3 Communications has been doing benchmarking for Voice over LTE along with circuit-switched voice and smartphone data performance other network performance metrics, using Samsung smartphones to drive-test the four major carriers’ networks around the I-495 beltway around Washington, D.C. The company will be making its results public shortly.
“It’s exciting to be the first to test VoLTE and demonstrate how it performs compared to legacy voice services,” said Dirk Bernhardt, CEO of P3 communications, Inc., in a statement. He added that “carriers are investing billions of dollars in next generation technologies to keep pace with exponential demand for wireless services but there is an engineering gap in the current benchmark ecosystem in the U.S. The current approach is focused on reporting problems, rather than solving them. Carriers need reliable data, based on sound engineering and measurement principles, and a partner who helps them implement changes to their networks to improve the customer experience.”
You can watch a video here of Bernhardt talking about P3 and its history of handset testing, and its approach to benchmarking. Newfield Wireless has been sharing data about the impact of VoLTE-capable device availability (specifically, the latest iPhone launches) and the resulting drop in 3G voice calls — the tests from P3 should provide some insight into how well VoLTE is actually working.
– Keysight Technologies has the nod for more near-field communications testing, with its T3111S EMV Level 1 PICC and mobile digital protocol test suite now qualified by EMVCo with the test suite with the Keysight T1141A Test Set for testing contactless card and mobile Europay/Visa/Mastercard devices.
Supported test suites include digital protocol, analog, LLCP and SNEP tests as well as proximity and vicinity ISO tests.
Keysight also this week added four new performance options for its Advanced Power System N6900 series DC power supplies as well as announcing support for testing an upcoming Intel microarchitecture called Skylake with the Keysight x1149 boundary scan analyzer.
– Anritsu has a new vector voltmeter mode for its handheld Microwave Site Master S820E that enables the instrument to be used as a replacement for the company’s legacy Vector Voltmeter equipment. Anritsu said that the microwave Site Master is the only handheld solution for the field with a VVM option up to 40 GHz, and that its input sensitivity has a better range than traditional vector voltmeters.
– Tektronix inked a new deal with 4K content enabler My Eye Media of Burbank, Calif., which selected Tektronix WVR8200 waveform rasterizers for quality analysis of 4K content and other formats to ensure that the content meets technical specifications.
“The big push in our industry is 4K acquisition and mastering with a view toward mainstream delivery in the near future,” saidCharlie Dunn, general manager for Tektronix’ video product line, adding that “by far the most important thread in the transition to 4K is quality control.”
4K content is expected to debut primarily on wireline networks, but it is also expected to have an impact in mobile, with a number of mobile devices already supporting quality higher than 1080p resolution. Qualcomm has estimated that more than 500,000 mobile devices that support 4K will ship by 2018.
– The evolution of LTE and early testing work in 5G were the subject of much discussion at this week’s LTE Innovation Summit hosted by Rohde & Schwarz, with demos of 5G channel sounding as well as LTE-Unlicensed and RCS testing. Make sure to check out RCR’s coverage of the event, including our YouTube playlist of interviews, demos and sessions — more videos are on the way and will be posted over the next few days, so keep an eye out.
